In this article, we examine a broad sample of socially responsible (SR) and conventional mutual funds with respect to nancial and ethical parameters. We cannot document profound differences in their nancial performance. With regard to ethical performance, we indeed nd that an investor who seeks to avoid the least ethical of all available funds can do so by purchasing SR mutual funds. Still, we also demonstrate that SR mutual funds are not holding considerably more ethical assets on average. Moreover, the label 'SR mutual fund' does not in any way guarantee the exclusion of clearly unethical rms, which contrasts to the common perception of screening out poor assets.
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